Review: Rempis/Piet/Daisy – Throw Tomatoes

Throw Tomatoes is an open call for listeners to honestly respond to the music however they would like to, even if that includes, as Matt Piet states in the liner notes, “If you are revolted by the madness of our method, well, by all means, revolt: throw tomatoes.” The two completely unapologetic and energy filled

Review: Marc Edwards-Mick Barr Duo – The Bowels of Jupiter

Duo records are made for the patient listener. There is typically a special kind of intimacy unfolding that invites interpretation or alienates those within earshot. Depending on the genre (loose use of the term here) and the methodology of the musicians, great ideas can become historic documents or forgotten works. Consider John Coltrane’s Interstellar Space

Playlist for the Week of July 23, 2018

Anteloper (Jaimie Branch, Jason Nazary) – Kudu (International Anthem, 2018) [cassette] Dietrich – self-titled (Pica Disk, 2017) Welf Dorr Unit – Blood (Chant Records, 2018) Myra Melford, Zeena Parkins, Miya Masaoka – MZM (Infrequent Seams, 2018) Dennis Gonzalez – Yells at Eels (1Car Garage, 2012) [vinyl] Matt Lavelle & Reggie Sylvester – Retrograde (ESP-Disk, 2018) J. Peter Schwalm – How We

Interview: Gibrán Andrade

After seeing Gibrán Andrade lead his band Géiser at El Quinto Piso in Mexico City on December 30, 2017, I managed to sit down with him at the cafe El Chalet on New Years’ Day to talk with him about his music. Andrade is a drummer, saxophonist, composer, and educator active in Mexico City who has toured

Playlist for the Week of July 16, 2018

Joshua Trinidad – In November (Rare Noise Records, 2018) Sarah Bernstein‘s Unearthish – Crazy Lights Shining (Phase Frame Music, 2018) Rallidae – Paper Birds (self-released, 2014) Harriet Tubman – Araminta (Sunnyside Communications, 2017) Whit Dickey – In a Heartbeat (Clean Feed, 2005) Patrick Shiroishi – Ima (Confront, 2017) [cassette] Sean Conly – Hard Knocks (Clean Feed, 2018) Kibrom A. Birhane – Time for

Review: Anteloper Live at H0l0, July 15, 2018

Sunday evening I had my first opportunity to see Anteloper play live. It was well worth the wait. Anteloper consists of Jaimie Branch (trumpet, electronics) and Jason Nazary (drums, electronics). The band creates intense layers of sound, recording loops, playing their instruments over electronics, and using delays in a manner to create far more sound

Review: Jon Lipscomb Quartet – Fodder

The opening track on Fodder, released in January this year, sounds like a Friday night in the city … It is alive and crazed, moving in pursuit of a hot moment at a small bar or dancefloor. Though somewhat odd as “fodder” can mean “food,” I listen to this track and feel the energy of

Artist Feature: Drummer Chad Taylor

In February, I had the opportunity to sit down with Chad Taylor and discuss his recent solo record release and his duo record with saxophonist James Brandon Lewis as well as the many bands and records he has been a part of throughout his prolific career. Cisco Bradley: Chad, it’s wonderful to have you here.

Feminist Jazz Review: A Conversation with Stephanie Richards about Fullmoon

I spoke with trumpeter, Stephanie Richards in April about her album, Fullmoon, which was released on Relative Pitch Records on May 18th. But of course, even more than I wanted to speak about her stunning, enigmatic, creative and expressive album, I wanted to talk about her womanhood. This interview was done before my debut interview

Review: Alan Braufman – Valley of Search (India Navigation, 1975, reissued 2018)

At the height of the 1960s through 1970s Cecil McBee was a very busy man. The bassist extraordinaire had appeared, probably, on hundreds of Jazz LPs ranging from unknown to classic. Just scrolling through my personal record collection, or his Discogs page, can boggle the mind of any collector, or new jack to the game,